Belo Horizonte based three-piece Death Metal band IMPURITY have re-released their second album, 1996's "Into The Ritual Chamber".

The opening tones of the first song, called "The Call", remind me of Mad Men's opening tune, which then of course did not exist yet. Then a flute comes in to give it a little classical sound, but it's only a couple of seconds until IMPURITY unleashes its demons. From then on the song is built around the rhythm guitar's riff, which has a METALLICA smell to it, until it speeds up again and the singer screams his lungs out.

"Baphomet Shield" starts like "The Call" ended, with fast guitars and drums and a brutal voice, all chaotic and a feast for crows. But this time with a piercing guitar solo, which sounds a little forced, to be honest. The rhythm guitars are way better. "Dilacerating..." is up next, and it's for the most part a little slower, which becomes them, in my opinion.

"Mystical Woman" sounds a little uncharacteristic at first, with it's easy intro and soft singing. It's kind of nice to hear the vocals like this for a change. It only lasts for a minute though, until they go back to their pitch black selves. "Untitled" strikes me as kind of an intermezzo song, a calm before the storm, with the guitars messing around a bit softly and slowly.

"Iao Treasury" starts with a bass line which could have been played by PIXIES' Kim Deal. At this point it's clear the band has its own style and sound, but it also mixes things up from time to time, which only contributes to the diversity of this album. "Lucifer Spewing" has an intro of ringing church bells. That's not cool guys, that's really not original. The rest of the song isn't any better, it's just some murmuring in the singer's growling voice. Title song "Into The Ritual Chamber" is weirdly enough very similar and it even sounds like it's a demo or something. Doesn't sound good at all.

"Baphomet Shield" and "Ecstacy Law" are both of similar quality as the previous ones, so I guess they're demos. What started as a promising album has been quite undone by then. It's a shame really, 'cause at first it was exciting, diverse and nice and heavy, but now it's just a grumbling chaos and for some reason the recording quality has dropped as well, even before the demo's began.

The album ends with three live songs, which is probably fun for their real fans, but I think it's a little unnecessary. They don't sound that great live either, so it's not really a contribution to this re-release. A Pity.